National

Thieves locked Melbourne mother in bedroom and made away with passports and jewellery

A Melbourne mother says she remains traumatised after being covered in a doona and locked in a bedroom in her home last year while violent thieves stole passports and jewellery worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Police are now renewing their appeals for help in locating the three offenders.

Xiaoping, a 66-year-old from Cairnlea, told police a trio of thieves broke into her Roseberry Avenue home around midday on September 9, with two men searching the property’s rooms while the third kept watch over her.

Xiaoping, 66, today said she is still traumatised from a violent home invasion in which three thieves locked her in a bedroom. Picture: 9NEWS.

“(He) held my hands behind my back and held my head to the couch, so I couldn’t see what they were doing,” she said today through a translator.

“It almost made me suffocate and then I called out in Chinese, in Mandarin, saying ‘help’.”

The gang forced Xiaoping into a bedroom and secured the door shut by tying a rope to the door handle.

The trio entered Xiaoping's Cairlea home in Melbourne's west last year and covered her in a doona before ransacking her house. Picture: 9NEWS.

They then loaded suitcases with electronic devices, passports, jewellery and a $200,000 Rolex watch and fled.

After her house fell silent, the mother then thought the thieves may have left and climbed out of a window to escape.

The 66-year-old also said today that she still feels traumatised from the incident and always checks if her doors are locked.

The gang made away with electronics, passports and jewellery worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Picture: 9NEWS.

Police say they believe there is no obvious motive as to why the trio may have targeted Xiaoping’s home.

“It was very callous and obviously very violating for the victim,” senior constable Liz Anderson of the Victoria Police said today.

Authorities are now appealing for public assistance to locate the three offenders, saying one man is believed to be of African appearance and was wearing a black top, pants and balaclava during the attack.

Police said there is no obvious motive as to why the trio targeted the mother's home. Picture: 9NEWS.

The other two men are believed to both be of Caucasian appearance and were wearing black and grey clothing.

Anyone with information that may help in police enquiries are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.